Monday, May 12, 2008

Chang Festival

Gosh, is it that time of year again? Like a circle in a spiral like a wheel within a wheel....First Chinese New Year, then Qing Ming, then Chang, then Hungry Ghost, then mooncakes, (it's when mooncakes appear that I usually go, OH NO, another year has gone by).... and these are only the chink festivals. Not to mention Thaipusam, Deeepavali, Hari Raya and Christmas.

Anyway, thanks to yet again the kindness of fellow flogger, Lemongrass, (what would life be without this gregarious garnishing) who offered me a free spot in a Chang Demo at the Grand Millennium, organised by ALICE GEORGE COMMUNICATION, Public Relations, Communication & Event Counsel for the hotel. I figured at 3pm on a Friday afternoon...there were worse ways of spending the day.

I got there on the dot, after slurping down a late lunch at that noodle place in Sg Wang. Beef brisket noodle. Yummy. But lets not digress.

To you anglophile bananas (yellow on the outside, white on the inside) out there, the Chang festival is actually known as Zongzi in Mandarin, and falls on the 5th day of the 5th moon of the Chinese Calendar. Sounds very exotic when you say it like that. I was born on the 24th day of the 11th moon, of the Julian Calendar. And like all good Chinese dishes, there has to be a story associated with it. The dumplings are basically red herrings to detract the fish in the river from eating the decomposing body of a patriotic poet who threw himself in the Miluo River when China got conquered by the Qin Dynasty. [In current day terms, it would be like the Son In Law throwing himself in the Klang River after Barisan's shocking defeat, and the BN supporters throwing in packets of nasi lemak to prevent the fish eating him...oh, hangon, no fish in the Klang River.] Oh, famous poet's name was Qu Yuan. Check it out on Wikipedia if you must.

Anyway, on hand to greet us was Head Chef (I think) Simon, and the Chang Master, Chef Thye Yoon Kong. Laid out in all its full glory were the ingredients that are to be stuffed into the dumpling. These dumplings somehow always reminds me of the phrase, "Bao Ham Yoke Zhong" (wrapping salty pork dumpling). A visual here, It's like me trying to get into my size 34 jeans, whereby I gotta rub butter on my hips and use a shoe horn to get in.

The above are the ingredients for the Zing Special Dumpling, and boasts an array of delicious stuff, such as dried scallops, duck meat, chicken meat, chestnuts, mushroom.

This assortment of ingredients is for the second type of dumpling, with is a rice&bean dumpling with lots of filling... like abalone, roast duck, chicken... how the heck do they fit all that into one size 34 C?

The vine with which they strap in those plump dumplings. Completely biodegradable, not like rafia string. Very good, highly recommended. Anita Roddick would approve.

And the bamboo leaves to wrap it all up. The larger ones (dumplings) use large lotus leaves as the final wrapping.

And with the speed of Superman, Chef Thye rolled up the first dumpling. It's like driving through a small town, like Bidor, one blink and you've missed it. Same thing here. He kindly (suppressing his impatience, I suspect) slowed it down a notch for the others to grasp the complexity of the task. Yours truly tried his hand at it, but gosh, that knotting requires a phD in Scoutship, or Knotting. Makes macrame look like a reef knot.

Finally, the best part, eating. All very good, though frankly, I still prefer the porcine versions. There's something about lard, ....healthy stuff is inversely proportional with taste, almost. You can purchase a gift pack of the three types of dumpling (the last one was the alkaline dumpling with red bean paste), with a bottle of XO sauce, for RM80. Also, the GM will be holding Chang making classes on 7th and 21st June, at RM80 per session. Do check it out.

Well, yes, we actually are aware of that. Just that eating it outside season, i.e. the Chang Festival, it'd be like eating mooncakes during the monsoon season or "long yuk" during Xmas. Can eat lah but no feel lor. No atmosphere.

Plus, when it's in season, we get more of the odd and weird fusion varieties. Not that I'd touch any of those, but still. Fun ma.

you know, i always thought that it was rice that was thrown to the fishies, and never saw the link to the big rice dumplings (i guess dumplings is right, bao meaning dumpling and casing - well, maybe just in my mind it does).

i always thought that every Chinese festive dish is a camouflage to embed some hidden messages to overthrow some Xi or Chi or Zen or Ya or Dah dynasties. That came from a pisang raja who actually does appreciate centuries-old ideograms.

and i also find it kinda illogical to use the chang as a distraction. first of all, changs are absolutely oily. so, if millions of these were thrown into the river, would the fish suffocate? the science of oil vs water densities? so, it's not a distraction, it's simply a WOMD lor. then again, i had 2 (complete with the lardy lard piece) this morning for breakfast...wonder if my fishes are still breathing...

WHAATTT??? Accept no imitation! Its not zhong without the pork okay?! Actually, I prefer it without the meat funnily enough. I just love the beans, salted egg yolk, mushrooms and chestnut. Perfect! I can't wait to attend my zhong lesson on Sunday now! OOh I might just be kiasu enough to do the one at GM too!!

i know how to tie changs! *preens* or at least, i know i did 20 years ago, when i was a school kid... was lamenting to my mum just yesterday that i've probably forgotten the art of it. was hoping there would be pictures of that in this post, but sadly, not :(

paps, dont forget to send us some samples once you're done with your class. i dun mind even the vegetarian one.

nickhkl, maybe the original chang were so lavish...i doubt the masses and peasants could afford to put pork and abalone and duck as fillings only to have them thrown to the fish. it was probably oil free, and very healthy for the fish. just like i'm sure they didnt have haagen daz mooncakes those days. heh heh. what? no such word as fishes? really? he fishes for fish in the creek? however, what fishes were YOU referring to?

lemongrass, which part of the son in law would you gnaw, and what kind of fish do you think you'd be?

james of ooze, i think baos generally are made from flour...you wouldnt call these a bao for sure. we'll bring you for these when u're here.

nipples, but these are no ordinary chang wor, got abalone sum more. haiya, the thing is, the catalyst for the naughty thread doesnt speak chink la, so he wouldnt know ham sap from ham luncheon meat.

boo, lucky you. no one in my family is thus inclined. nor am i. just too labourious.

oh, i was referring to the noun. but then again, a quick check at the online american dictionary reveals that fishes is indeed a word. perhaps my delectably crispy 1988 oxford is outdated already. hmmm...

oh, the fishes. i was referring to my spearheaded troop. i heard too much oil is bad for multiplication. then again, what does this 18 years old know about multiplication except that it's a cumpulsory biology chapter that was somehow the easiest to score in the whole of SPM.

james of ooze, ah, quite the chinese afficianado eh...you're right, of course bao means literally to wrap, but in KL specifically, baos refer to those buns with filling...you've never had abalone? australia is one of the major producers of that stuff.

BBO, cooking house is also having a zhang workshop. paprika is attending. i think that one more hands on. the one at ZING, GM, is more a demo.

nickhkl, ah, since we have a cunninglinguist in the house, we should ask him about fish vs fishes. i'm sure fishes as a noun exists, doesnt it refer to many species, as opposed to the plural fish which is just many fish? various types of fishes peck at my feet kinda thing. i'm still at a loss what your spearheaded troop has to do with oily fishes....

james, you are absolutely right...how can oil, a lubricant, be bad for a spearhead? what's a spearheaded troop anyway?

I am tempted to make Chang this year, but one problem, i dunno how to wrap it and furthermore, I would want my pot of boiling water ended up as glutinous rice porridge. Ahem..it happened once cos it was tied too loosely.

FBB, speak for yourself. My halo's still intact. Anyway, I thought the dark grottos would be a place that man comes to over and over again? Those li'l buggers wouldn't be there if not for the cannons anyway.

james/fbb: oh, i was speaking from a nutrition's point of view. i read that high fat content (in this case, oil) depletes the troop by multiple folds. and yes, agree that ky is oil-based but is more applicable in the mechanical approach. anyhow, it's gold. :)

alcohol definitely inspires. but aim? hmmm... sailing into the grotto without hitting its misleading walls or snapping the cannon or crashing into some bushes would already be a wonderful consolation, i guess.

oops, snowdrop, apologies, i completely forgot to reply your comment. my DEAR, alas, tying chang knots i do not think is a skill like riding the bicycle. i oso used to know how to fold ketupats leh...but i seriously doubt i can now. so, quick, go relearn this dying art. no pictures of the knots coz our chef was doing it at the speed of light, so much so the other ladies in attendance didnt even ATTEMPT to try their hand at one. tsk tsk...

Pisang Belanda, what's dutch banana? is it a euphemism, like french cap?

enlightened, wonder if there are any echos in those grottos.

hairy berry, is that the western term for rambutan? btw, i think our dear james got it wrong, KY is water based if i am not mistaken.

james...alcohol to a certain degree does give the warring tribes some advantage, but cross the threshold and they're rendered useless, which is probably how the chinese army fell to the Qin dynasty, precipitating the untimely suicide of the poet that created this zhang festival. (trying to sttttttteeeeeeeeeeerrrrrr the comments back to rated G catergory)

simon seow, of course they dont call it pillow zhang in Zing, GM. it's called the Zing Special. But yeah, its basically a deluxe pillow zhang.

BBO, you mean at the MO they didnt even let you try your hand at it? At least at Zing they did...just no takers. Except me.

Angelic Lemongrass...ah, oxymoron time again i see. Angelic....oh wait, as in like Lucifer ah?!!! OHHHHHH, ya hor.

another valiant effort to steer the comments back to calmer waters fbb. we'll see how long it lasts when lemongrass gets to it.

of course you are right about ky being water based - for some reason i was looking at the massage oil i have beside my bed when making those comments. and NO, having massage oil besides one's bed doesn't make them less shy; it just makes them more thoughtful ;)

About Me

Oft misunderstood soul. Shy, reserved, likes to stay in the background, but inevitably mistaken as not shy, extrovert etc. Originally meant to be a culinary blog, but in due course discovered man does not live on cake alone..hence the waffle.